to expel Wilkes for his libels. BURKE took the popular side of the argument, and Fox as strenuously maintained, that the voice of the people was only to be heard in the house of commons. The nation was thrown into a vio lent ferment by this impolitic, though perfectly legal, measure, and while it engrossed the thoughts of all parties, a writer made his appearance, who through the medium of a newspaper, and covered with a mask that has never been removed, blew up the flame to the utmost daring of sedition.

It was very evident that the letters of JUNIUS proceeded from one, who was well acquainted with the members of administration, and who owed them a grudge for injuries, either real or imagined, which the author had received from them. The asperity he felt running through these famous epistles, was sufficient to convince every unbiassed reader, that blighted ambition and deep resentment alone gave them birth. The ascription of them, therefore, to some member of the Rockingham party, was extremely natural; and upon whom, could the suspicion of being JUNIUS fall with so much weight of probability as on BURKE? His abilities were undoubted, his address in varying his style to suit the object he had in view was well known, his habit of writing anonymously in periodical works was no secret, and that the

disappointment which he had experienced, should have soured his temper against those by whom it was occasioned, was perfectly reasonable. On all these accounts and some others, little less plausible, many scrupled not to aver that the letters of JUNIUS came from the pen of BURKE, and we know that even the acute and penetrating mind of Johnson, actually hung in suspense upon the point, until BURKE himself spontaneously disavowed them with some degree of warmth. Notwithstanding this, such is the obstinacy of credulity, attempts have been respeatedly made to establish the charge, though the persons thus uselessly employed, had no more light to throw upon the subject, than their predecessors in this idle inquiry. That BURKE was not the author of the letters, we ought to believe upon his own authority, but if that be not deemed sufficient, there is internal evidence, more than abundant to satisfy every unbiassed observer, that JUNIUS must be sought for in some other quarter.

In 1769, Mr. BURKE published, without his name, which as we have already observed was his usual practice, an elaborate reply to a pamphlet written by Mr. George Grenville, entitled The Present State of Nation." the That gentleman drew a dismal picture of the finances of this country, and as extravagant a one of the resources of France, with a view

of justifying his own measures, when in office particularly in regard to America, and of depreciating those of the succeeding administrations.

Mr. BURKE's reply, therefore, was rather a defence of his own party, than an attack upon others; though in the treatment of his subject, which he managed with consummate ability, he overwhelmed the hostile ranks to which he was opposed, by an exuberance of wit and an irresistible body of closely connected argu

ments.

Soon after this, came out a pamphlet, intituled " Thoughts on the Cause of the present Discontents," in which Mr. BURKE attempted to show, that for some years there had existed a design to establish a double cabinet, one interior, and the other exterior; the former consisting of a secret cabal behind the throne, and the latter a servile set of ministers, subservient to their councils and disposable at their pleasure. To this cause were boldly ascribed the frequent changes that had taken place, and the consequent distractions which prevailed throughout the empire.

There was, however, more rhetoric than truth in this statement, but the writer's aim was to urge the combination of an open aristocracy of power, property, and talents, on popular principles, as a check upon the crown. This plan d

was nothing more, indeed, than a recurrence to the old system of governing the national councils by the weight of party, which, in the estimation of many good friends to the constitutional liberty, was to the full, as objectionable as that of pretended favouritism.

Though this performance of Mr. BURKE is beautifully fascinating as a composition, it is now read only as an elegant declamation, founded upon a visionary basis, and calculated to serve the purposes of a political junto, who were exasperated by the loss of place, and wished to make the world believe, that the disgrace they had suffered arose from the machinations of a secret faction behind the throne. .. Mr. BURKE, however, lived long enough to see and acknowledge that the cause to which he had ascribed the public discontents, was the mere creature of the imagination; and that no such private council as the one described by him ever had an existence. The great earl of Chatham often made the same declaration, though he too, for political reasons, at one period gave countenance to the current report.

About the time when Mr. BURKE'S pamphlet came out, the duke of Grafton, unable to resist the combination of talent that was made against his administration, retired from office, and was succeeded by lord North, whose mea

sures gave as little satisfaction as those of his predecessor. Notwithstanding this, that nobleman continued to hold the helm for several years, amidst a conflict of the most tremendous magnitude. As BURKE was the most powerful of his assailants, so the brightest of his speeches were those which he delivered in the house of commons, on the disputes with America. He ridiculed lord North for his propositions of conciliation, and attacked him with unwearied ardour for pursuing a contest founded on the very right, which had been asserted in the declaratory act of lord Rockingham's administration, and of which there can be no doubt that Mr. BURKE was himself the author. Much, therefore, as we may admire the brilliant genius of this eloquent, and accomplished statesman, truth compels the admission that he was here, as in some other cases, palpably inconsistent.

It has often excited surprise, how a minister, of the easy and indolent temper of lord North, could stem the torrent which ran impetuously against him for so long a period. Mr. BURKE, once partly answered this question, by saying, on leaving the house after a loud and stormy debate, in which the minister preserved his equanimity and humour to the last,“ Well, there's no denying it, gentlemen, this man has